Purdue University proposes to organize the 2007 International Research and Education in Engineering (IREE) Conference on its campus in West Lafayette, IN. The dates are from October 30 - November 1, 2007. The conference will immediately precede the 10th Annual Colloquium for International Engineering Education at Purdue from November 1-4, 2007 thereby making it possible for IREE conference attendees to attend that conference also if they so choose.
The IREE conference will be attended by early-career faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows funded by the IREE Program in 2006. The IREE Program was initiated by ENG/EEC in 2006 to provide supplemental funding to current awardees in six (out of seven) existing divisions in the Directorate for Engineering (viz., BES, CMS, DMI, CTS, EEC, and ECS). The goal of IREE is to enable early-career researchers in the U.S. to gain international research experience and perspective. Additionally, by broadening existing research projects funded by programs in ENG through partnership with self-supported foreign counterparts, IREE seeks to enhance U.S. innovation in both research and education.
IREE funds medium-duration visits of between 3 to 6 months by U.S. early-career researchers to collaborating institutions/laboratories outside of the U.S. The visits must be related to the objectives of ongoing work in current projects, augmented by evidence of engagement with the cultural activities in the countries visited. During 2006, divisions in ENG and the Office of International Science and Engineering joined as partners to co-fund 115 IREE awards. Tied to the Human Resources Program of EEC because of the focus on developing the potential of early-career researchers, IREE is also linked to EEC?s leadership role in integrating research with education. This, the principal mission of IREE, enables the connection of the research programs of Divisions in ENG with the education of students.
The proposed post-trip IREE conference will provide a platform for awardees to share experiences and lessons learned during their visits abroad. Based on these experiences and lessons learned, participants will present to NSF their recommendations for international cooperation that are effective in enhancing innovation in domestic research programs funded by NSF. This will involve discussion of how to incorporate international experiences/collaborations in proposals submitted to core programs. A secondary objective is to obtain a vehicle for publicizing the successes and accomplishments of IREE awardees in leveraging international cooperation to enhance innovation in their domestic research programs. To this end, papers presented at the conference will be compiled into a proceedings volume that the PI will disseminate widely to the engineering community.
